Division 4 Team - SUNS D
Leong Tho, Aria Sangsari, Cheng Peng,
Alena Fallon, Adam Nelson
The Competition has concluded - 31 Oct 2020
Final Result - We are the Champions
19th Oct – Finals, Away to Cherrybrook Galaxy at Cherrybrook
The night did not start well as Leong promptly lost the first singles. Our team then responded magnificently with Adam, Francis and Leong winning the next 3 singles. Cherrybrook Galaxy however did not give up at this point. They even up the scores by winning the next 2 doubles. - All square at 3 - 3
In the next 2 singles, Francis and Adam were playing strong opponents. As underdogs, first Francis won in straight sets. And Adam then wrapped up the match by winning 3-1 against their captain.
Beyond all our expectations we won the final 5 - 3
In summary, SUNS finished in 4th position after the preliminary round robin. This was an accurate reflection of our team's standing as there were indeed 3 other better teams than us. These 3 teams had beaten us easily in the early rounds. Hence the team knew right at the start of ESF (Elimination Semifinals) that they would be the underdogs and could be knocked out with the next match.
Leong analysed the team's weakness and exposed our opponents' while organising training to correct these weaknesses. Adam, Aria and Francis responded magnificently, sacrificing their time during the day (when they should be at work) and followed the advise and training given by SUNS better ranking players, namely the excellent Francis Teh, Barry Cohen and Walter Labio.
Here we need to add in that the non-playing team members, both Alena and Cheng, chipped in with their contributions in earlier rounds and lend their full support in the ESF.
With a bit of luck but with total dedication and determination, our team managed to carve up in succession 4 hard fought and narrow victories. Every match became a win or be knocked-out contests against the odds. One match after another we survived and became eventual Champions in Division 4. By the way, SUNS entire Division 5 team came to watch, cheer and encourage the team on the night.
BRAVO TO THE TEAM, A TEAM EFFORT
INDEED THIS IS SUNS VICTORY
Final: CBKTTC Galaxy vs SUNS D (venue CBKTTC) Thu 29th Oct
3rd position: Forest Gump
Matches played:
12. 19th Oct – Away to Forrest Gump at Forrestville
This team has beaten our team comprehensively by 7 - 2 in the previous round robin. We hoped that they would be relaxed and be confident. Perhaps they were and we managed to scrapped out a hard-fought and narrow 5 - 3 win. Again we were represented by Adam, Aria, Francis and Leong. At last, we managed to reach the final against heavy odds.
Well done thus far but we shall meet a extremely strong team in the final. We shall try our best, after all there is so much fun in trying.
11. 16th Oct – Home to Cherrybrook Juniors
In the second of the ESF Knock-Out round, we meet the young team again. Adam, Aria, Francis and Leong played for our team. Though youngsters, our opponents had improved by leaps and bounds since we last met, It is only due to our focus and resolved that we managed a comfortable 5 - 2 victory. We progressed to the last semi-final.
10. 9th Oct – Away to PCYC Falcons
This is the first ESF Knock-out round match. Adam, Alena, Francis and Leong played that night. Our team played hard and managed to pipped them 5 – 4
Table October 2020
9. 21st Sep – Away match Vs Forrest Gump
In the last match of the round robin, we did badly. We were represented by Adam, Aria, Francis and Leong. We could not handled their services and lost badly 2 – 7
8. 17th Sep – Away match Vs Cherrybrook Junior Warriors
Adam, Aria and Leong played against a very young team. We managed to win after initial struggles 6 – 3
7. Tue 8 Sep - Away game vs Macquarie MacBeth
Again we were represented by Francis, Adam and Aria. We won all our games in a 9 - 0 victory. We have 2 more matches to go before the round-robin ends.
6. Fri 4 Sep - Home game vs Nam Ho 4A
Aria, Francis, Adam and Cheng played. We won all the singles games quite effortlessly. But lost all the doubles too. However, Nam Ho fielded an unregistered player and had to forfeit all his games. Hence we ended up with a 8 - 1 victory. Overall it was an entertaining and good match enjoyed by both teams.
5. Fri 21 Aug - Away game vs Cherrybrook Galaxy
This was an away game though played at SUNS Brickpit stadium. Galaxy's venue was closed for cleaning. Cheng played 2 singles while the rest of the games were handled by Francis, Adam and Leong. Another narrow defeat by 4-5.
4. Fri 14th Aug - Home game vs Hornsby RSL
We started off quite badly although we won the first singles. We trailed 2-4 and only 1 game to match defeat. Then we rallied and even out the match with the next 2 singles, 4-4. In the deciding last doubles game we won the first 2 sets but somehow lost the remaining 3. A narrow defeat 4-5
A minor set-back. Hope to do better with our next strong opponent, Cherrybrook Galaxy.
3. Mon 3rd Aug - Away game vs Nam Ho 4B
We managed to scramble a 3 member team together. Adam, Aria and Francis played on the night. Aria lost the first game in 4 sets, 0-1. However that happened to be the only set back for the night and we were able to complete a 8 - 1 victory.
Let's keep the victory roll going in our next game vs Hornsby RSL
2. Fri 31st July - Home game vs Mac Challengers
This was our 3rd match having postponed the 2nd match. Cheng Peng, Adam Nelson and Leong Tho played. Alena was injured with Ari unavailable for the night.
Right at the start, we had a bit of drama. Cheng's racket broke into two and subsequently lost our first game. With a borrowed bat, We somehow managed to achieve a solid 7-2 victory.
Keep going!
Due to COVID-19, the competition has recently restarted
with revised schedules. July 2020
1. Fri 13th Mar - Home game vs PCYC, Falcons
SUNS D had a great game last night though we lost 6-3.
Cheng played the 1st singles losing in straight sets, 0-1
Leong was next and we evened up 1-1
Until the 6th match, it was 3-3 on the score sheet.
Then we lost the 7th, and trailed 3-4.
In the 8th and crucial singles match, Francis was leading 2 games to 0 and we had hope. But eventually and somehow lost the next 3 games, with scores of 9, 9, & 8. It was neck to neck all the way until the final points for all the 3 games.
With that narrow loss, we have already lost the entire match 3-5 and the momentum was gone, although admittedly we met their strongest doubles combination in the final 9th match. SUNS D would probably still lose but could have given a better fight to a very young and good team.
The team of Leong Tho, Francis Seo, Alena Fallon and Cheng Peng have thoroughly enjoyed the night.
Good show and do better next match.
Fun Challenge plus Lunch
Monday 16 Dec 2024